According to the 2013/2014 Randstad World of Work Report, which polled more than 14,000 employers and professionals through an online questionnaire, several reasons were cited for the job switch. Malaysians are not just switching jobs to boost their careers but the decision to leave also hinged on “uncompetitive salary” (55%), “lack of recognition at the workplace” (35%) and “lack of trust in senior leaders” (21%).

The global recruitment firm noted in its report that employees tended to stay on in their present company if they have a “strong understanding of how their roles contribute to achieving organisational goals (30%) and a strong feeling of being valued and recognised (16%)”.

Other than employees looking to switch their jobs, Randstad also found that 31% of employers are planning on hiring more graduates in the next five years to address the lack of talent in the market, a rate that is the highest among the seven countries surveyed.

Here’s several other noteworthy facts about the report:

Malaysian among most ambitious in Asia Pacific, quit jobs to advance careers

70% of employers acknowledged that staff turnover was a prevailing problem for businesses operating in Malaysia.

61% of employees would recommend their present workplace to their friends.

In a country craving for talent to spur its market, Randstad found that only 23% of Malaysian professionals were “motivated, challenged and mentored to learn new skills in their current jobs”.

Malaysia’s wage growth is also high with 62% employees polled getting a pay rise in the past year.

While pay rise may be used as an incentive to retain talent in Malaysia, it still faces a serious issue of talent outflow, especially to its neighbour Singapore. The exodus of local talent means that Malaysia faces a shortage of skilled professionals, including bankers, researchers and engineers.